


I don't pull rabbits out of ridiculous hats (but I can curse you)

by erytheis



Series: Wizard Tony [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (kinda), Curses, Gen, Hurt Stephen Strange, Magic, Tony is a wizard, the other Avengers don't have a big part in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-23 12:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16158902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erytheis/pseuds/erytheis
Summary: Tony Stark hates magic.It’s funny how everybody assumes it, just because he’s a man of science. And they are so, so far from the truth.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This comes from the idea of Tony being a wizard in Harry Potter's world, so there will be a lot of references to it. 
> 
> English is not my first language, so if you find any mistake, please tell me and I'll correct it. I hope you enjot it. Have a nice day!

“I’m awake! I’m awake!”

Tony bolted up from the chair and started rummaging through the tools and blueprints scattered on the table, not really looking for anything, but he’d just woken up and needed a few seconds before he could assess the situation, and his hands instinctively reached for the mess. He didn’t even remember falling asleep in the first place.

The blaring alarm did nothing to help him organize his thoughts, and Tony was close to ask JARVIS to mute it when he realized it was the Avengers’ call to assemble.

“Shit.” Tony dropped a screwdriver back on the table and almost tripped over the chair.  “Shit. JARVIS, call the suit.”

“The newest prototype isn’t yet coded to your implants, sir, and the older model needs repairs.”

Tony sighed. “I have to do everything around here, haven’t I? _Accio_ armor.”

After a few seconds, pieces of the armor started rushing to him, lacking the usual order, so Tony had to juggle to suit up successfully, and if some of the pieces hit him over before he could maneuver to put them correctly, well, it wasn’t uncommon for his body to be one giant purple bruise, even before a battle.

“JARVIS, what’s going on?”

“There seems to be a plague of giant slugs around City Hall Park. The Mayor has requested the Avengers assistance. Thor is already flying to the scene, and the others are boarding the Quinjet.”

“Giant slugs? What the fuck?” Nevertheless, Tony didn’t think more about it and soon he was flying behind Thor towards Lower Manhattan, to fight the big bad slugs.

 

* * *

 

At first glance, Tony would have sworn the slugs were impossibly huge, harmless flobberworms, but he soon discarded the theory, as they were blue and clearly had antennae. Practically Andorians, then. Oh, and they were also violent.

As soon as Thor and Tony arrived, all their heads (or whatever would be considered their heads) snapped to their direction, and they started shrieking and moving towards them. Thor had the bad idea of landing, and one of the slugs somehow jumped and stuck to his hammer. Not even a god’s strength could shake the slug off, and Tony had to fire the repulsor to free Thor’s hand. The slug screeched even louder, but disattached itself from Mjölnir. It was undoubtedly alive, but at least they could be harmed. 

“Thank you, Iron Man,” Thor said through the commlink. “Those slugs stink.”

“Yeah, buddy, next time try to stay in the air. Maybe you can fry them with your lightning.”

Thor did just that, and hit a group of several slugs that were following him. Again, the horrible noise intensified, but they didn’t die like anything with decency would do upon being hit by Thor’s lighting. Some stopped moving for a few seconds, but then they recovered quickly.

The others arrived only a minute later, and Tony expected the slugs to go after them too, but at his displeasure, they stayed fixed on him and Thor, maybe because they’d been the first ones to arrive.

Clint’s arrows, Natasha’s widow bites and Steve’s shield were as ineffective as Thor’s lighting and Tony’s repulsors. Tony even tried to cast _Confringo_ at one of them, but instead of exploding, the slug was only invigorated, and shrieked louder at him. So maybe they were some king of magical creatures, even if Tony had never heard of them. Maybe they were native to an isolated area, and some idiot had decided to bring some back to New York, but that was improbable. If they were magical creatures, the MACUSA would have already intervened, since their headquarters were literally across the street.

“Code Green, Bruce,” said Captain America, and seconds later the Hulk’s roar silenced everything else. Tony looked towards the big guy and found him ripping the slugs in two. Well, at least someone was able to kill them.

“Alright, the big guy’s the only one making a dent. Maybe we should round the slugs up towards him, so he can take care of them,” Tony suggested, while he fired a few of his missiles to one slug in particular that was pissing him off. It stopped moving for a whole twenty seconds, and Tony already thought he’d actually killed it when it screeched again. Tony sighed.

“There’s too many, Iron Man,” Captain America said. Tony looked up at him, and saw him repeatedly smashing the shield on a slug that ignored him, and tried to follow Thor. “I. Fucking. Hate. These. Slugs.” Steve stressed each word with a swing of his shield. Not even the vibranium cut through the slugs; it was a miracle the Hulk could rip them.

“Yeah, but what else could we do?” They were starting to get exasperated, nothing they did seem to do anything, and the slugs still were stubbornly going only after Tony and Thor.

“Alright, let’s do that. Let’s bring them to Hulk.” Cap sounded defeated, and let the slug he’d tried to crush so meticulously go. When another slug crawled besides him, ignoring him for a change, he kicked it with what looked like all his forces and sent it flying ten meters back. How could Steve kick the slug so far, when not even his shield killed them? Tony hated that logic.

The slug Steve had kicked out of his way, instead of going after Thor like before, found itself closer to Tony, so it changed his target. That was getting old, fast.

Tony got so frustrated at seeing his weapons do nothing to the slugs that he muted the comms and put all his concentration in casting _Deletrius_. He even made the wand movement, even if it had been years since he last used his wand.

The results were not expected, but neither were bad. Instead of disintegrating, the fucking resilient slug just screeched louder, and then stopped. Tony waited for a few seconds, and then a minute, but the slug didn’t move again. “J, is it dead?”

“It appears to still be alive, sir, but in a deep slumber,” JARVIS answered immediately after his scans.

“Ugh. Well, I certainly can’t explain that. Let’s hope the team doesn’t notice this sleeping beauty.”

The battle continued for a few more endless minutes. Thor and Tony didn’t have any problem shepherding the slugs towards Hulk, they only had to fly over them and they would loudly follow them. The others, though, had a bit more of a problem. Tony was glad JARVIS was recording the whole battle, because the sight of Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow literally carrying those slugs to Hulk’s feet, as if they were making offerings, sure was worth something.

“Who is that?” Clint’s voice interrupted after a few minutes of silence, at least on the comms. Tony looked over the archer and followed his gaze, and was surprised at the sight.

Definitely a wizard, even if Tony didn’t recognize what magic he was using. He wasn’t wearing traditional wizard garb, but it gave magical-ish vibes nonetheless. Besides, he was wearing Ilvermorny colors. Oh, and a flying cape, how quaint.

He was probably from the MACUSA. After all, the fight was taking place in their own backyard, nice of them to show up.

But the longer Tony stared, the more certain he was the new guy wasn’t from the MACUSA. That form of magic was nothing like Tony had ever seen: glowy an intricate designs sprouting from his wrists, condensed energy, that looked more like science than magic, in the form of a whip, and portals chasing after the slugs and swallowing each of them, making them disappear.

Rapidly, the wizard took care of all the slugs, leaving the Avengers astonished. Soon the only slug left was the one Hulk was currently ripping in half, and when Hulk realized there weren’t more of his toys to play with, he angrily roared, and started running around City Hall Park, looking for more of the ‘slimy soft worms’.

Tony saw the other wizard land to the other side of the park, so obviously Tony flew there, dying of curiosity and, to be honest, a healthy dose of envy.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Tony landed besides the wizard. He still couldn’t wrap his mind about the type of magic he used. He made sure the comms were off before continuing. “Where did you learn that?”

“Kathmandu,” answered the other wizard, concluding his spell and extinguishing those weird mandalas around his wrists. They were flashy, and Tony liked flashy things, thank you very much.

“I love it. A little unconventional, but if it’s wandless magic, it’s already my thing. Would you teach me the whip spell? And those portals? You’ve gone through some of them, so I guess they’re similar to Apparition, but so much better! And they sure make an impact.” Tony said, but his excitement vanished when he saw the other guy’s expression. Anger, and disdain.

“I won’t let you mock me,” he said in a harsh tone, and Tony was taken aback. “I just saved all your asses, and I’m not in the mood for this.”

“What do you mean, mock you?” Tony asked, confused.

“Don’t act all innocent. You think you’re so superior, with all your technology, but you know nothing about magic, so stop it.” 

“Excuse me?” Tony raised his voice, getting a little bit angry himself. “What the fuck are you talking about? Do you know who I am? _Depulso_!”

The asshole wizard was thrown back a few meters, and before he could react, Tony wordlessly casted the Full Body-Bind Curse, watching smugly as the guy stiffened and fell, even if his flying cloak prevented him from hitting the ground, gently laying him down on it instead. Good, after all, he helped the Avengers deal with those weird slugs.

Tony walked towards the guy, whose eyes moved wildly, being the only thing he could control. “How you doing, over here? It’s not wise to challenge the Ilvermorny duel champion for six years in a row. Didn’t even have to use any of my own spells. God, you should know that, you’re even wearing our colors,” Tony said, gesturing towards the wizard’s robes. But any wizard who’d gone to Ilvermorny knew what Tony Stark was capable of, especially someone who looked just a few years younger than him. So maybe that guy had only studied in Nepal, even if he sounded American. That would explain him not knowing about that particular facet of Tony Stark.

“Tony! Who is this?” Tony lifted his head to the direction of Cap’s voice, and there he was Steve, running towards him flanked by a spy in each side.

“ _Finite Incantatem_ ,” Tony muttered, and crouched besides the other guy, who could move again and was starting to sit up. “Not a word to them, please, they don’t know. And I won’t hesitate to _Imperio_ the shit out of you.” Tony said, joking. The man looked confused, but accepted Tony’s hand to help him up. “So, what’s your name?” Tony asked loud enough for his teammates, who had almost reached them, to hear.

“Dr. Stephen Strange,” the man said, and it was Tony’s turn to be confused, because he recognized the name, but not from Ilvermorny or the magical community.

“Dr. Strange? As in the neurosurgeon?” The man – Strange – nodded. “Uh.” Steve, Natasha and Clint finally arrived. They looked bad, covered in translucid slime and full of cuts and bruises. So, the usual after one of their assemble calls.

“A neurosurgeon? How does a neurosurgeon end up a wizard?” Clint said, his usual subtlety making an appearance. Tony couldn’t help but snort.

“I’m not a wizard,” Strange said, tightness in his voice. “I’m a Master of the Mystic Arts. I don’t pull rabbits out of ridiculous hats, or…” Strange looked at Tony, but thankfully said nothing. Otherwise, Tony would have been forced to cast the Tongue-Tying Curse on him. “…or that kind of thing.”

“Wow, okay, Mystic-boy. No need to get you magical panties in a twist,” Clint muttered, and was shot down with one of Steve’s ‘I’m disappointed in you’ looks.

“Clint! I’m sorry, Dr. Strange. We appreciate your help here. We didn’t know what to do with those… slugs.”

“They were Een’Gawori. Actually it was my fault they were here. I accidently opened a portal to their dimension, and they poured out. They feed on magic, so I was incapacitated for a while.” Strange explained, looking slightly embarrassed.

“What the fuck?” Tony said, trying to process what he’d heard. Now at least he knew why the slugs were so drawn to him, and Thor (or Mjölnir in particular), but that answer came with multiple questions. As in, what was Strange talking about, other dimensions? And also, what the fuck?

“Tony,” Steve admonished him, as if he didn’t swear like a sailor himself. Hypocrite, trying to look like the perfect boy scout in front of new people.

“No, Steve, what the fuck? A portal to another dimension? What is this about?” Tony asked Strange, who looked at him with what seemed distrust.

“Seems you’re not versed enough in magic, I’d say,” Strange deadpanned, and Tony gasped. The nerve to insult him like that… Tony, in a spurt of the moment kind of thing, non-verbally casted the Conjunctivitis Curse on Strange. The symptoms were visible instantly, with his eyes reddening and swelling slightly. Tony smiled as Strange blinked, confused. “Ugh… I’ll be leaving now. If you ever need me, you’ll find me at 177A Bleecker Street.”

The Avengers watched as Strange conjured one of his portals (to another dimension?) and disappeared, the sparkling orange circle dying out after a few seconds. Tony felt guilty immediately after, but well, he was like that sometimes, and the guy pissed him off.

“That was weird,” Clint cleverly observed.

“He’s a pretentious asshole,” said Tony, and Clint gave him a knowing look. Tony shrugged, sometimes it took one to know one. “He...”

“He helped us today,” Steve interrupted him. “Even if he admitted it was his fault in the first place. We’ll talk about it during debriefing. We should help Thor with Hulk, I think he’s still pouting about the slugs disappearing.”

Clint and Steve started walking towards what could only be described as the Hulk throwing a tantrum. Natasha, who’d been suspiciously silent during the whole conversation, eyed Tony briefly before following the others, as if she knew something the others didn’t. And she probably did; Tony was pretty sure Natasha had suspected Tony was a wizard since she’d been undercover in SI, but she’d never had proof. And besides, who would even believe her?

 

* * *

 

 

The debriefing was a waste of time. Well, not really, it allowed Tony to think about what had happened. It was obvious Strange wasn’t a normal wizard. Tony had googled him from his phone while Steve tried to explain what those slugs were to SHIELD, and the other dimension story Strange had told them. Strange had graduated high school from a little town in Nebraska and gone to Columbia University, where he graduated top of his class and then got an MD _and_ a PhD at the same time. If Tony didn’t have six PhDs, he would find it impressive.

After that, Strange had had a successful career as a neurosurgeon, until a car accident, after which he disappeared out of the public eye.

It didn’t sound like the life of a wizard. Alright, Tony’s didn’t either, but everything pointed at Strange being a No-Maj. A No-Maj who undoubtedly knew a form of magic.

The other dimensions were what finally did it. Strange’s magic couldn’t have the same origin as his, maybe it was more like Loki’s seiðr. So, that meant that Tony had fucked up. He’d compromised the whole magical community, so it was probably a good thing he was friends with the President of the MACUSA, even if he doubted anybody would dare to go against him. He had a reputation in both the magical and the No-Maj worlds for a reason.

At the first opportunity, ignoring Steve’s glares, Tony left the debriefing room and took the elevator directly to his lab.

“JARVIS, if the team asks, tell them I’ll be holed up in here for a while, and I don’t want interruptions,” Tony said as soon as he stepped into the lab, and went directly to the potion’s cabinet, the one that looked like a pile of discarded metal parts to any No-Maj that looked at it. Tony started rummaging through the jars and bags full of disgusting ingredients. “Please, tell me I still have some powdered unicorn horn left.”

“Actually, sir, you don’t,” JARVIS answered, and Tony held back a groan. “You used the last of it for the Draught of Peace last week.”

“Fucking PTSD, now it’s emptying my pantry.”

“If you would go see a therapist, sir, like normal people do, and you didn’t self-medicate, maybe that would not happen.”

Tony snorted. “I don’t need your sass, J. I’m not normal people. Hell, I’m not even normal wizard.”

Tony left the wormwood and the stewed mandrake on a worktable, and walked to the other side of the lab, to the hydraulic press, to crush a unicorn horn. It may not be the conventional way to do it, but it did the job just fine.

“Hey DUM-E, do you want to grab one of the cauldrons. Thanks, buddy.” Tony said to the excitable bot, who started beeping happily and rushed across the lab. “U, you can grab the Bunsen burner. Your claw is a little steadier.” The other bot inexplicably made the smuggest face, considering he was only a robotic arm. “I said a little steadier, and that’s just compared to DUM-E. You’re still a hot mess like everybody else in this lab, JARVIS excluded.”

“Sir, may I ask why you’re preparing to brew the Oculus Potion?” JARVIS asked while Tony reached the worktable again. DUM-E had tried to get the cauldron from the highest shelf, and he’d managed to drop everything from there except the cauldron. U had only dropped the burner twice, so both were doing better than anticipated.

“Well, JARVIS, I may have casted the Conjunctivitis Curse on Strange before he left. And if my suspicions are correct, no amount of MDs will help him.”

“Sir, casting a curse on a No-Maj is a serious breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, as you should be well aware.”

Tony sighed. “I know, J. But in my defense, at the moment I still didn’t know he was a No-Maj. I’m still not one hundred percent sure.” He started preparing the potion when the bots arrived with the cauldron and burner. He preferred regular chemistry, it usually was more logical, but he’d always liked brewing potions himself. It was relaxing.

“Dr. Strange obviously is a No-Maj, sir. It became obvious after his reaction to your one-sided duel. Which entails another breach of the Statute of Secrecy.”

“Well then JARVIS, thank you for your insight at the moment. It was really appreciated.”

“You wouldn’t have listened to my advice, sir,” JARVIS pointed out, and Tony had to agree with him. He kept brewing the potion, all while trying to distract DUM-E with something else so he wouldn’t mess up with the cauldron, or Tony would need to start again.

Soon Tony was pouring a dose of the potion into a tiny bottle, and put the rest of it into a bigger one, labelling it accordingly. “Well, I know which is going to be my go-to curse the next couple of weeks. Next time Clint eats my waffles he’s going to find a surprise his way.”

“Sir, I wouldn’t recommend you curse any more No-Majs.”

“Just kidding, J,” Tony said, even if he’d been like 20% serious. Besides, Clint would love the side effects of the Oculus Potion. “Well, JARVIS, I’m going to go see Strange. Tell Steve not to bother me!”

And with that, Tony grabbed the smaller bottle and his phone, and apparated on a deserted alley in Greenwich Village, only a couple of blocks from Bleecker Street.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephen felt like shit.

The last time he’d felt that bad was after one of his many surgeries after the accident, when he’d contracted a nosocomial infection. He’d wanted to kill all the staff in the hospital, even if he knew sometimes they were inevitable.

Now he would also kill everyone that crossed him, if he wasn’t so weak and pathetic.

The diagnosis was rather obvious, even a first-year pre-med student would be able to state he had conjunctivitis, an acute case of it. His eyes were red and swollen, and he could barely keep them open due to the disgusting secretion that glued his eyelids together. And all that was nicely accompanied by a pulsing headache and general discomfort. To sum up, he was feeling peachy.

The eye drops hadn’t had any effect whatsoever. After an hour, at least its anesthetic properties should have decreased the pain, but it was even worse. Stephen doubted anything he could think of would work, since the origin of the infection was unknown.

The first sign of itchiness had manifested at the end of the battle, and if it hadn’t been for Stark, maybe he would have thought he’d caught the bacteria from the Een’Gawori. But he couldn’t stop replaying Stark’s odd conversation with him, and the obvious something –  magic – he’d done, and his face before Stephen disappeared through the portal, smirking a little too much. Stephen felt like shit, and he was pretty sure it was Stark’s fault.

Stephen would have loved to reflect on everything that had happened and the implications of Stark’s power, but he was too tired for it. First, as usual, he’d ignored Wong’s warning about the dangers of other dimensions and played a little with a few portals, which resulted in the Een’Gawori being drawn to his world, since their own had long been depleted of magic. When he’d tried to fight them, they’d overwhelmed him and thrown his soul into the astral plane and to the other side of the city, so he’d have to find his way back into his body, only to find the Sanctum full of slime and the Een’Gawori gone.

He’d followed their trail a little more than a mile down Manhattan, to the City Hall Park, where he’d found the Avengers trying (and failing, except the Hulk) to fight the Een’Gawori. He’d had to put a lot of energy into that fight, watching every Een’Gawori so they wouldn’t surprise him again, and he was exhausted by the end of it, even if it only had lasted about a minute. And then Stark had been the cherry on the cake.

The doorbell interrupted his thoughts, and Stephen groaned, curling up into the cushions of the sofa instead of getting the door, hoping for whoever it was to go away. It couldn’t be Wong or any other Master, they would simply open a portal inside the Sanctum, and he sure hadn’t called for takeout or anything.

Of course his wishes meant nothing to the cruel chaos of the universe. Whoever was outside was insistent, ringing the doorbell continuously, not giving Stephen’s headache a chance. Finally, the annoyance surpassed the fatigue, and Stephen got up the couch and walked towards the door, one hand on the wall so he wouldn’t fall.

When Stephen saw who was on the door through his almost closed eyelids, he instantly adapted a defensive position, lighting on his wrist shields. At the other side of the doorway, Stark innocently put his arms up.

“Wow, Strange, just a courtesy visit. No need to get aggressive,” Stark said, but Stephen maintained his position, not letting him into the Sanctum.

“What are you doing? And what are you?” Stephen asked as the Cloak, who’d been roaming around the Sanctum since their return, settled onto his shoulders. He felt instantly safer.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you already have an idea about what I am. And I just wanted to apologize and help you with your little problem. Sorry about that.” Stark gestured to Stephen’s face.

So he’d been right when he’d thought his conjunctivitis somehow had been Stark’s fault. That didn’t exactly ease his tension, but Stark seemed sincere. And honestly, Stephen was the worst patient imaginable, ask Christine, and he just wanted the infection gone, and yesterday.

Stephen reluctantly stepped aside, and let Stark into the Sanctum, while the Cloak wrapped its edges around Stephen’s whole body, obviously protective. Stark noticed.

“This is the most sentient enchanted cloak I’ve ever seen. It’s not just a flying charm, is it? It’s much more than that.”

“It’s the Cloak of Levitation, it’s a mystical relic.”

“O-kay. Sorry, I’m still making my mind around your kind of magic, it’s just so fascinating.”

“So you’re a magician?” Stephen asked, and Stark looked offended.

“I am not! I don’t pull rabbits out of ridiculous hats,” Stark threw back at him, smirking. “I’m a wizard. Or a sorcerer, if you want to get more pretentious about it.”

Stark started walking around the room, and Stephen watched him to the best of his ability, considering the acute conjunctivitis he was still suffering, somehow caused by the same man.

“Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?” Stephen asked as Stark started stretching his legs while leaning on the ancient relic. Stark ignored him, and Stephen couldn’t suppress a smile as the Cloak swatted his leg away. The look on Stark’s face was hilarious.

“I’m going to allow that,” he said after a few seconds of gaping like a fish out of water, and then pointed at the Cauldron. “That is not a cauldron.”

“It’s the Cauldron of the Cosmos,” Stephen repeated. “It allows to see into the past.”

“Oh, like a pensieve,” Stark nodded, and Stephen frowned, not having a clue about what a pensieve was. Stark elaborated, “Like, to store and revive your memories.”

“No, like the past in general. Not memories.”

“Oh,” Stark said softly, and walked away, looking around the room. It didn’t seem he was going to say anything else.

“So I take it’s your fault I have conjunctivitis,” Stephen never would have imagined he would say a phrase like this and mean it, but there were first times for everything.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just, you just said I didn’t know shit about magic, and I got mad, and I cursed you. Sorry.”

“You cursed me? What, you do voodoo?” Stephen asked.

“Not voodoo… I mean, I’m not saying I’ve never used sympathetic magic, it’s the best one to integrate in technology, but… In your case, I just casted the curse.”

“And when you threw me away and paralyzed me, that was also a curse?” Stephen asked, finding himself more curious rather than angry.

“Yeah. Again, sorry, but I thought you were a wizard, too. I didn’t know you were a No-Maj.”

“A No-Maj?”

“Non-magic. Although in your case, you do have some form of magic. It’s not innate, is it?”

“You were born with yours?”

“Yeah. My mother was a witch, and all her family too. Ancient pure-blood lineage of England, she was disowned after she married my No-Maj dad. Who would’ve thought Howard Stark meant marrying down.”

Stephen fell silent, trying to process what he was hearing. When he’d discovered that magic was real, it had been difficult to accept, but now he found out there were other kinds of magic, and whole societies structured around it. He wished the Ancient One was there, she sure would already know something about it.

“So you came here only to blow my mind and apologize?” Stephen finally asked.

“You blew my mind too, at the park.” Stark smiled, and approached him, taking a bottle out of his pocket. “And I actually came here to give you this. It’s the Oculus Potion, it will counteract the effects of the Conjunctivitis Curse.”

Stephen didn’t take the offered bottle full of orange liquid, he didn’t trust it. “No thank you, I’m a doctor. I’ll take care of it.”

“All your medical knowledge will do nothing for that infection, believe me. That’s the only way to cure it.” Stark stretched his hand again, thrusting the bottle into him, but Stephen still wasn’t convinced. “Come on, Strange, just take it! I promise it’s safe, I brewed it myself.”

“You brew potions?” Stephen asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You also what, wear pointy hats, have a black cat, and fly around in a broom?”

Stark smiled, and bit his lower lip. “Well, I _personally_ don’t, but in general, ugh, we kinda do. Not the cat thing, I mean, not because we’re witches and wizards it means we only have black cats, we have any kind of cat. That’s actually a misconception.”

Stephen frowned, not sure if Stark was pulling his leg or if he was being serious. But when Stark offered him the bottle again, he accepted it this time.

“What do I do with it?” Stephen asked, unsure.

“You drink it, duh.” The last thing he wanted to do was drink that bright colored liquid. “It’s tasteless, I promise. Look, I can take a sip first, to show you it’s not poisonous.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Stephen idiotically said, because it would actually have been a good idea to accept the offer, and swallowed the contents of the bottle in a single gulp. Stark had been right, it was tasteless, and he instantly felt better. That fact angered his doctor self.

“Good. Give it a few minutes, and you’ll be like new. You can also expect a few side effects.”

“What?” Stephen yelled, dropping the empty bottle to the floor, the sound of breaking glass echoing around the room. “Now you mention the side effects?”

“Relax, they’re good side effects! It just will enhance your senses for a little while, especially your eyesight. It will go away in a few hours.” Stephen relaxed, his shoulders dropping. Even if now he didn’t suffer the infection, the weariness came back full force, and he only wanted to go to sleep and maybe wake up a week later. Besides, he was hyper-aware of all the little sounds, from Stark’s soft footsteps to the Cloak scraping against his own clothes, and it was very annoying. That must be the side effects.

Stark crouched, and looked at the remains of the bottle. “God, what a mess. _Reparo_.”

Stephen watched as the million pieces of broken glass merged together into the full bottle once again, just as if he’d used the Eye of Agamotto, but without endangering the timeline, or so he supposed. And just with a simple word.

“You did that with only a word?”

“Yeah, that’s the incantation of the Repairing Charm. Most people struggle with non-verbal magic, especially when learning, so we use incantations. That’s also why wands are for, to focus the magic, but we don’t really need them, as you can see.” Stark opened his arms wide.

“You people use wands? I thought you said you weren’t a magician.”

“And I’m not. Wands are the western way to channel magic, other cultures use different methods. Like the Cherokee, who use face pigments from magical plants, each one with an affinity to a particular branch of magic. Oh, and during my exchange in Castelobruxo I learnt to knit Quechua bracelets that have the same function, they’re pretty cool, they only work if you’ve sheared the wool from the winged alpaca yourself, which meant we got to go to the Andes for a field trip, and… and I’m rambling, sorry.”

“No, no, it’s… interesting,” Stephen said, and it was true. It was weird, but interesting. And these methods of channeling magic sounded awfully similar to the Sling Rings they used to open the dimensional portals. The difference was that they used magic from other dimensions, and Stark’s people used their own. Ugh.

“Anyway, I should get going. Can I trust you to keep my secret?” Stark asked, and it seemed he was actually waiting for an answer, instead of it being a rhetorical question.

“What would you do, if I said no?” Stephen asked.

“I would have to _Obliviate_ you.” Stephen’s face must have betrayed something, because Stark was quick to add. “It’s just the Forgetfulness Charm, I would only erase your memories of me being a wizard. It’s protocol for when a No-Maj learns about the community, otherwise we get in trouble with our government.” That was not particularly reassuring, he didn’t want Stark to mess with his brain.

“Your gov…” Stephen decided to leave the question to another time. “But you’re not gonna obliterate me if I promise to keep my mouth shut, are you?”

“I would not obliterate you, come on. _Obliviate_ you, from Latin _oblivisci_ , to forget. Jesus, and you’ve got a PhD.”

“And an MD. And I was just kidding, Stark. Of course I know Latin.” Stark snorted. Maybe they would end up getting along, despite the initial confrontation. They appeared to be too similar for their own good, after all.

“Well, we’ve got a deal, Doctor. You don’t say anything about me being a wizard, and in exchange I don’t obliterate you. Or curse you anymore.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that.” Stephen smiled, and offered Stark his hand. “If the Avengers ever need my help, you know where to find me.”

“Yeah, likewise.” Stark shook his hand firmly. “But I’d like to learn some of your tricks, if you don’t mind. Oh, and I can teach you how to brew some potions that don’t require our kind of magic. It’s just gross chemistry, you’ll love it, you’re a doctor after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked the idea and are interested in my headcanons about this AU I probably won't write more about, you can find me on tumblr at karasouders.tumblr.com


End file.
